Gone

Over the past few days , have been reading and watching the many reviews of 2009 including a truly awful one last night on ITV (how long is this station going to survive ?) with the absolutely loathsome Piers Morgan and they all at some point have a list of notable lives that have died over the previous year . Just wanted to put a few You-Tube vids up to honor a few guys that made a difference to me and who rarely got mentioned , if at all, in any of the mainstream medias round up of 2009. A touch sentimental maybe but sod it , it's the season for it . Have a good one .

Ron Asheton

John Martyn

Lux Interior

and from the telly

Tony Hart

Keith Floyd

Mentions for Alton Ellis ,Steven Wells,David Carradine,Michael Jackson and Bobby Robson

African Rubber Dub Volume 2 - Bim Sherman

The posting of the first volume of African Rubber Dub seemed to be quite popular and after receiving an anonymous request for volume two thought I would show goodwill to all mankind and offer it up for all interested parties. Once again, not certain of the whole Bim Sherman connection , as he is only listed as one of the percussionists and the vocal snatches are even briefer than the first volume so I suppose as before what we have are dubs of Bim Sherman cuts . Overall a less "dense" and organic production, more of the Adrian Sherwood style type mixes , no King Tubby this time . Some familiar rhythms throughout. Although not quite up to the very high standards of the first volume this is still very much worth a listen especially if you got into the first volume . Track five "Nightmare" is the highlight for me complete with train whistles , Bim Sherman whispers and a weird wobbly metallic sounding instrument (does have a name but it's long slipped from my mind) that I strangely remember from Rentaghost .Vol 2 here.

Four On 4 - Trash On The Tube

Hot on the heels of previous post, thought I'd offer another Sting-Rays related quickie. Remember seeing this at the time in 1984 on everyones favourite Friday tea time music show of the 80s' The Tube. There was a feature on current garage bands featuring Thee Milkshakes ,The Prisoners, The Sting-Rays and The Tall Boys and this ep was released by Big Beat to coincide with it . You can't go wrong with Thee Milkshakes with the mighty Billy Childish at anytime for me , but the real highlight for me on re-listening is The Prisoners with their psychedelic Hammond organ and trash guitar sound .A lot of the , er "madchester" sort of bands must have been taking lotsa notes . They passed me by at the time but gonna definitely investigate further . Here is the EP.

And here is the whole sequence , thought I'd never see this again . I bow down once again to the miracle of YouTube and the saints who have been digging up all their old VHS and maybe Betamax and Philips 2000 tapes so we can gawp and sometimes cringe at this stuff again .

Oh and look out for Tracy Enim bouncing around , who was Billy Childish's partner at the time leading to his name being featured in her artwork "The Tent"

The Stingrays - Dinosaurs

The debut album from The Stingrays released in 1983 , probably owes more to psychedelia and prime 60s' Nuggets type garage than the psychobilly scene that that they were often lumped in with.It still retains a frantic rockabilly beat on some tracks especially "Blue Girl" complete with great slap bass playing . "My Flash On You" and the sly " Joe Strummer's Wallet " are particular highlights on this very diverse album . The last track on the album "Ah What! " stands up really well, it sort of reminds me of Love and is probably my favourite on the album at this moment in time .

Psychobilly was mostly ignored or briefly mentioned with a snobby attitude by the music press of the time , so I am not holding out for any articles in any of the retro music mags anytime soon , am getting pissed off with repetitive Beatles , Stones , "how great the 60s' were " type articles and endless 50 best of whatever lists content of these mags at the moment. They must be taking us for fools . And I subscribe to one of them . And I have just renewed it and got a free CD wallet . Hold on ! Oh well, it's something to read on the bog .

Vinyl Dinosaurs here .

African Rubber Dub - Bim Sherman

Am crediting this as a Bim Sherman dub album, although as there is so little info about this that I am not so sure. At the moment this album seems to be a bit hard to get hold of as well . Mixes by King Tubby, Prince Jammy and tellingly Adrian Sherwood as this has a very distinctive On U Sound type flavour to the overall sound ,although I suppose to define a definitive "On U Sound" sound is near impossible . Musicians include Style Scott, Bingy Bunny , Sly & Robbie , Roots Radics Band and The Gladiators . Lots of Niyabinghi style drumming ,warm percussive instruments , horns and Bim Sherman vocals drifting in and out make up a sort of soothing dub album , although as I have a bit of man flu at the moment this may be influencing my feeling towards it but whatever state Im in I still love this album. I do have volume 2 as well so if anyone wants this too , let me know . For now vinyl rip here .